The Mosaic Company

What does Mosaic own?
Mosaic owns phosphate mines in Florida, Brazil, and Peru, potash mines in Saskatchewan and New Mexico, and processing and distribution facilities across the Americas. Its branded fertilizer lines include MicroEssentials, Aspire, K-Mag, and Mosaic Biosciences biological products. It also holds an equity stake in Saudi mining company Ma'aden.

Is Mosaic publicly traded?
Yes. The Mosaic Company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker MOS and is a member of the S&P 500. It has a single class of common stock with broadly distributed institutional ownership.

When was Mosaic founded?
Mosaic was formed on October 22, 2004, through the merger of IMC Global and Cargill's crop nutrition division. Its predecessor companies date to 1909 with International Agricultural Corporation's Florida phosphate operations.

Who owns Mosaic?
Public shareholders own Mosaic. Cargill held a majority stake until 2011, when it distributed its entire position to its own shareholders and charitable trusts in a $24.3 billion split-off. Today no single holder controls the company.

Where is Mosaic headquartered?
Mosaic is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, USA. The company moved its headquarters from Plymouth, Minnesota, in 2018 to be closer to its Florida phosphate operations.

What is Mosaic's market position?
Mosaic is the second-largest integrated phosphate producer globally with about 10% of world output, and a top-four potash producer with about 12% of global production. In Brazil it is the leading fertilizer producer and distributor.

Mosaic was created on October 22, 2004, when IMC Global Inc. combined with the crop nutrition division of Cargill, the private agribusiness giant. The deal paired IMC's phosphate and potash mining operations with Cargill's fertilizer production and distribution network. Cargill initially held a roughly two-thirds stake in the combined company, which was headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota.

The predecessor businesses had deep roots. IMC Global traced its history to 1909, when International Agricultural Corporation began mining phosphate in Florida. International Minerals & Chemical Corporation, formed through a 1962 merger, built the potash side of the business, including the Esterhazy mine in Saskatchewan that began production in 1962. Cargill had entered crop nutrition in the 1960s and expanded through its global grain trading network.

Mosaic began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2008 and joined the S&P 500 in 2011. That year, Cargill completed a $24.3 billion split-off that distributed its entire Mosaic stake to Cargill shareholders and charitable trusts, leaving Mosaic fully independent and publicly held.

Two large acquisitions reshaped the portfolio in the following decade. In 2014, Mosaic acquired the phosphate business of CF Industries for approximately $1.4 billion, adding the South Pasture mine and Plant City processing complex in Florida. In 2018, it paid roughly $2.5 billion for Vale Fertilizantes, the Brazilian fertilizer unit of miner Vale, which added phosphate mines, processing plants, and a distribution network and made Mosaic the market leader in Brazil.

Also in 2018, Mosaic relocated its corporate headquarters from Minnesota to Tampa, Florida, placing management closer to its core phosphate operations. The company held a 25% stake in the Ma'aden Wa'ad Al Shamal Phosphate Company joint venture in Saudi Arabia, and in 2025 exchanged that stake for shares in Ma'aden valued at approximately $1.5 billion, converting an illiquid joint-venture interest into a tradable equity position.

FY2025 net sales rose to $12.1 billion from $11.1 billion in FY2024, though net income was $541 million against a backdrop of weak fourth-quarter US demand. Potash production reached 8.8 million tonnes, the highest MOP output since 2019, and Belle Plaine set a production record. In the third quarter of 2026, revenue was $3.1 billion, down about 10% year over year on softer fertilizer prices.

Mosaic publishes annual sustainability disclosures covering water use, energy, land reclamation, and waste. Its Florida phosphate operations use substantial recycled process water, and the company reports that more than 90% of water used in Florida phosphate operations is recycled or reclaimed. It has committed to reducing freshwater use per tonne of product and restoring mined land, a legal requirement in Florida.

The company's central environmental challenge is phosphogypsum, a mildly radioactive byproduct of phosphate processing stored in large stacks called gypstacks. Federal rules classify phosphogypsum as regulated waste and restrict its reuse, leaving stacks as a permanent liability. Mosaic maintains financial assurance for eventual closure and long-term care of its stack systems under agreements with US regulators.

Potash mining's primary impacts are salt tailings and brine management. Mosaic operates a long-term salt tailings management program in Saskatchewan and reports progress on reducing brine release to surface water.

In August 2016, a sinkhole opened beneath a phosphogypsum stack at Mosaic's New Wales facility in Mulberry, Florida, releasing an estimated 215 million gallons of contaminated process water into the Floridan aquifer. Regulators and residents criticized the company for a delay of several weeks before public disclosure. Mosaic sealed the sinkhole and installed monitoring wells; state oversight continued in subsequent years.

Mosaic has also operated under a federal consent framework with the EPA over the handling of phosphogypsum waste, which required billions of dollars in financial assurance for stack closure and long-term care. Environmental groups have sued over permitting of new phosphate mining areas in central Florida, arguing that mining damages wetlands and watersheds feeding the Peace and Myakka rivers.

In Brazil, Mosaic's tailings dams came under closer regulatory scrutiny after the 2019 Brumadinho disaster at a Vale iron ore facility prompted a nationwide review of dam safety. Mosaic reported evacuations and reinforcement work at certain Brazilian structures and continues to decommission dams that do not meet current standards.